


The Late Night Encounter

by Bertholdts_coffee



Series: Virus [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: M/M, Zombie AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-03
Updated: 2014-01-03
Packaged: 2018-01-07 06:15:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1116483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bertholdts_coffee/pseuds/Bertholdts_coffee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jean is living in a world contaminated with a virus: a virus that turns regular people into man eating monsters. Jean and Marco must face these monsters together, for if you do not fight, you cannot win.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Late Night Encounter

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys this is my first chapter in a zombie au fic. Hope you like it!

It was so dark, in that little cave just a couple miles away from Haven Maria.

I was alone, wrapped in a dirty blanket I had managed to salvage from my house before I had fled. I didn’t know where my family was, or if they were even alive. The last I had seen of them was as we ran opposite directions of each other, my mother looking back at me, her face smeared with tears, dirt, and blood. She had mouthed one word:

_Go._

I had run away from the wreckage I had once called my home and taken refuge in a cave. That was where I lay now, wrapped up in this dirty blanket on the floor of a cave. I sighed and rolled over, pulling the blanket tighter over my body. I closed my eyes and willed my heart beat to slow. I could wake up in the morning and complete my journey to Haven Maria and take refuge there, living among all the other refugees eating nothing but the shittiest gruel available.

It wasn’t an ideal life, but it was life. I sat for a while with my eyes closed, and eventually I fell asleep, dreaming of the horrors of that day.

* * *

I woke up in the middle of the night, and for a minute I looked around cautiously, wondering why I had woken up. It was pouring rain outside the mouth of the cave, and I stared outside for a while, wondering if rain could work to my advantage or disadvantage. It was a couple moments before I noticed a silhouette right in front of the cave mouth. I backed up hurriedly, bumping my back against the rocky wall of the cave. I was trapped. If that was a zombie, which it surely was, then I was dead.

I scrambled up from under the blanket and grabbed a piece of wood that I had brought just for this occasion. I swung it in front of myself and cried threateningly, “Stay back!”

The figure turned slowly and raised its hands in a sign of defeat. I jabbed the wood at it again, crying, “Stay back! I’m warning you!”

The silhouette took a step closer, hands still raised. “Jean? Is that you?” I froze, my mouth gaping, and the plank dropped from my hands, clattering onto the floor.

_“M-Marco?”_

The figure stepped into the cave, and even though it was almost pitch black, I could tell it wasn’t a zombie; it moved too quickly. Suddenly the moon came out from behind a cloud and from the moonlight outside the cave, I could see Marco standing there, tall and broad as ever. He was soaking wet from the downpour, and his hands were still raised in a classic defense gesture.I stepped closer to him and whispered again, “Marco? I-is that you?” It was almost too good to be true. I stepped even closer to him, and in a sudden movement, I hugged him tightly. I wasn’t usually one for hugs, and I hardly knew the guy, but right now I was so lonely and scared, it was all I could do to not start kissing him on the fuckin’ cheek.

Marco laughed breathlessly and hugged me back timidly. I felt bad about leaping onto the guy like that, so I pulled my arms off him and stepped back. “Hey, Jean.” Marco laughed. “Nice to see you too.” I felt a blush coloring my features, and I was surprised I could feel anything other than fear and sadness.

“What’re you doing out here?” I asked raising my eyebrows quizzically.

“I ran away from our village, just like you. I was just looking for a place to spend the night before making my way to one of the havens.”

“Hey, that’s exactly what I was doing! We could go together, if you want.”

Marco shifted uneasily and pointed at his leg. I looked down and exclaimed “Well, shit, Marco.” His left pant leg was in tatters and there was a huge cut running the length of his calf, still shining with blood. Marco looked up at me again and spoke in barely a whisper, “Do you still want me along?”

I…I really didn’t know what to say. I hadn’t known Marco for long, I had just started talking to him recently, as in this month, and I liked the guy, but his injury could slow me down. It could be the death of me. But I couldn’t leave him sitting here on his own, because without someone to help him out, he would never make it to the haven. His leg would get infected, or he would be overrun with zombies, or something else would happen and he’d die just a couple miles from Haven Maria.

“How’d it happen?” I huffed, trying to change the subject.

“I-I jumped out the back window of my house because the zombies were surrounding the front, and I cut my leg on the glass that was still in the window after I broke it.” He looked down, his brow furrowing in exhaustion, and continued, “I know it was a stupid mistake, but I was panicking. I honestly had no idea what to do.”

I felt sorry for Marco. It was kind of hard not to. He was alone and I was alone, so why not team up? If zombies were chasing us, well, let’s just say that I could run faster than he could. I held my hand out to Marco and raised my eyebrows expectantly. “Alright, I’ll take you as my partner in crime.” I drawled, and even in the dim light, I saw Marco’s face light up with a smile. I smiled back in spite of myself, and seeing Marco grin like that warmed me throughout my whole body. Marco grasped my hand and we shook, sealing the deal. “Well, that’s that.” I said, and I gestured to the blanket on the floor. “Home sweet home.”

Marco looked at the blanket and said, “It’s fine, Jean. I’ll just sleep somewhere else. That’s your place and your stuff.”

I narrowed my eyes at Marco and said reproachfully, “You’re sleeping now. I’ve had my fill of sleep. Besides, someone needs to stand guard.” I reached down and tore strips of fabric away from Marco’s tattered pant leg and pressed the bit of wood I had up against his calf. I tied the board to his leg with the strips of his pants. I knotted the last one and patted his other leg twice. “Aaaaaand you’re done!” Marco looked up at me appreciatively, so I patted him on the back and told him to get some sleep. After I was sure that he was sleeping, I sat near the mouth of the cave and stared out into the pouring rain.

* * *

In the morning I woke Marco up with a soft kick to the ribs. He groaned and rolled over, cracking his eyes open a little and blinking in the soft darkness of early morning. I kicked him again and pulled my blanket off of him. “Rise and shine, Princess Marco. It’s time to get moving or the zombies will find us. We need to make it to the haven today.” I squinted out at the dark landscape, wondering why no zombies had attacked us. I had thought that we would have to re-locate before morning due to zombie sightings or attacks, but none came. Strange.

We set off a couple minutes after that, because there was really nothing to pack. We had no weapons, my only weapon being tied to Marco’s leg, and all I had supplies-wise was that thin, dirty blanket from my house. We trudged down the path, and the pace that was set was slower than I would’ve liked. But Marco was really trying to go faster, so if I pushed him and walked too fast, he’d keep up alright, but he’d tire from strain all too soon. We had to make it to Haven Maria today.

I looked sideways at Marco as we walked, only to see him turn his head away from me very quickly, as if he’d been watching me. I cleared my throat and attempted small talk with the taller boy so I could pass the time easier. “Hey, uh, Marco? What happened to your family?” It may have been a touchy subject, but I couldn't think of anything better to talk about right now.

Marco answered with a downcast look to his face, and I could already tell it was going to be very, very sad. “I don’t exactly know what happened to them. They escaped out the window with me, but the crowd was so hectic and chaotic, I lost them.” I patted Marco on the shoulder, not sure what else to do. This guy had a great pity story. He had lost his family, he had cut his leg, he had been all alone, all that and he was cute. And I, Jean Kirschtein, had saved him from an untimely death by zombies.

Speaking of zombies, we had no weapons. This was not a good thing. We would have to climb a tree or try our luck and fight hand to hand if any zombies came into the vicinity. I didn’t fancy Marco’s chances with climbing a tree, but I didn’t know about hand to hand combat. We had to get to the Haven quickly so we could stock up on weapons and food.

“Hey, Marco? What do you plan on doing once we get to the Haven?” I asked, curious to how this all was going to play out.

“Uh, I planned to look for my family. My mom told me if we got separated, to meet at Haven Maria. There we could find each other.”

“Well, huh, I don’t really know what I’m going to do when we get there. I guess I could look for my family, but I don’t really have an escape plan at all. Would you mind if I stayed with you and we both looked for our families?”

Marco looked over at me and smiled once more, and my I felt warm from head to toe once again. I didn’t know what it was about Marco’s smile, but it made me feel safe and warm, like nothing bad could ever happen. “I-I guess so, Jean.” Marco said, still smiling. “If you really want to.”

I grinned at him, though it probably looked more like a scowl. “Then it’s settled. We stick together until we find our families.” I didn’t say what I was thinking, however, because it was a real downer: _What if we never did find their families?_

I unrolled the blanket that Marco had so carefully rolled up before we left and let it flap in the wind for a minute. I wanted to make Marco feel better. I didn’t want him wallowing in self pity all the time; I wanted to make him laugh. I liked his laugh. I looked him straight in the eyes and wrapped the blanket around my neck like a cape. I gave him a large grin and ran out in front of him, the blanket flying out behind me. I could hear his laughter bubbling up behind me, and I grinned, throwing my head back and running around in a full circle, turning back to walk beside Marco again.

Marco was still laughing hard when I circled back to his side. I walked beside him, but didn’t untie the blanket from around my neck. Marco looked up at me then burst out in more peals of laughter. “I don’t know why this is so funny!” He gasped. I smiled widely, glad to have made Marco laugh so much. He looked up at me once again, his face still red from laughing, and whispered, “Thank you. You always know the best things to do to make me feel better.” I felt a blush color my cheeks, but I didn’t lose my grin. I had made Marco laugh; he even admired me! I was ridiculously happy. Suddenly Marco’s eyes widened, and he pointed behind me. “Jean! Look out!” he cried, and I turned to face the challenge.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading my fic! I'll try to update every one to two weeks!


End file.
